


The Kamino Job

by zinjadu



Series: Between Eternity and Time [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Breaking and Entering, Dancing, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Robbery, Tropes, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 14:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7272499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zinjadu/pseuds/zinjadu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Between leaving her crash course in a different Force philosophy and saving her favourite clones, Ahsoka pulled a caper to get information about the obedience chips.  With a little help from the Null-ARCs.</p><p>Takes place between Chapters Two and Three of "I Shall Not Live in Vain" also by me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Kamino Job

It had been a month since she had left that mysterious planet on the edge of the galaxy, and Ahsoka had put the time to good use. Her vision had been about the clones, about a danger to them, or that they were a danger, it wasn’t clear. Still, since it was about the clones in some way, she needed information. And the best kind of information there was about them came from Kaminoans.

 

To her utter surprise and disgust, it turned out Kaminoans simply didn’t leave. Or, at least most of them didn’t.

 

She had found out, through carefully searching the holonets, that one Kai So had left Tipoca City a year or so ago. Well, more like he had been banished for disgraceful behavior and disagreeing with the head of the Kaminoan genetics team. But he had worked on the clones, and he was someone she could get to.

 

Tracking his movements had been fairly easy, he had logged his trips since leaving Tipoca City under his own name, but then he had come here, to Taris, and all but disappeared. It was easy to do in any city-planet, but Taris was a legendary home to gangs, petty criminals, smugglers, and even the occasional slaver. A good place to disappear from, in other words.

 

Why he had suddenly disappeared was another question, but one she didn’t have time to answer.

 

Standing in his empty rented room, she closed her eyes and took a breath, focusing on the patterns inscribed on the Force here. Kai So _had_ been here, and if she got a read on him, she might be able to track him through the Force itself. While she was good enough to repair a ship, slicing required technical skills she had never acquired.

 

Before now, all the places the renegade Kaminoan had been, he had left too long ago for her to get a fix. Here, he had only left a week ago, and had been here for some time. He had been… _waiting, wondering, needing to flee, they’re after me, I need to find someone I can trust, no data trail…_

 

She sank deeper into the Force, trying to see if she could either locate Kai So himself, or at least be able to figure who, exactly, he went to go see about getting off planet unnoticed. That wouldn’t be easy though, Kai So would have been spoilt for choice when it came to asking for smugglers on Taris. However, there would only be a small handful that someone as fearful as Kai So might trust.

 

Deep in the Force, and her focus in the past, she didn’t notice the troopers approaching until it was too late. Her eyes snapped open as two of them came into the room, standard formation, blasters out, covering each other and drawing a bead on her in the matter of moments. They were in trooper armor, but they weren’t the troopers she was used to. These men were taller, bulkier, and they felt more aggressive.

 

They didn’t say anything for the space of a long, drawn out breath, and neither did she. Instead, she faced them calmly, though she was racking her brain trying to remember something, something that Rex and Coric had told her a while ago. Something about a different kind of trooper, something about an elite squad that did the real dirty work.

 

When she didn’t make an immediate hostile move, they both relaxed slightly, lowering their weapons, but not holstering them. One of them took a half step toward her and removed his helmet. Likely, he thought her a hapless civilian. That might get her out of this situation, but it would only give her a second’s head start.

 

“Hey there sweetheart,” he said, giving her a smile that was probably meant to be charming. Well, it was, she was slightly preoccupied with her escape plan. “Now, you must be lost, eh? This is no place for a pretty thing like you. How about we go for a walk while my brother does his security sweep? How’s that sound?”

 

“Security sweep?” she asked, making her eyes go wide and her voice just a touch breathless. “I just got to Taris, and I got this room, and…” she started to babble, and he drew closer to her, and conveniently in his brother’s line of sight.

 

Then she leapt up and kicked him in the face, sending him to the floor. Before the other one could react, she shot out into the hallway. Unfortunately, there was another trooper coming from the staircase going up, so she would have to go down. Running, she launched herself down the stairs, using the Force to give her speed.

 

But when she got to the lobby of the dingy building, there was another trooper already there, and he took a couple of shots at her. In the tight quarters, it was all she could do to avoid the blaster bolts. They weren’t going to stun her, that was for sure, but she couldn’t draw her sabers, not here. That would only get her in more trouble.

 

Then she heard the other ones coming down from above.

 

They had cornered her.

 

 _Well, they’ll find out why you shouldn’t corner a Togruta_ , she thought, and smiled. It was a fierce smile, the smile that had made droids afraid, the one that the men of the 501st were always very glad was pointed at the enemy.

 

She engaged with them, hand to hand, cutting down their ability to use their blasters for fear of hitting their brothers. They were forced to try to take her on only two at a time, due to the tight quarters, and she kept shifting the ground of their fight, trying to get to the door. But every time she got close, the one that had stayed on the stairs shot at her to indicate that she wasn’t getting to leave that easily. Trilling like the hunter she was, she vocalized her frustration, though none of them could understand it.

It was tiring fighting at this pace, though, and being clones they could endure nearly as long as she could, and there were three of them and the sniper. Eventually, she got sloppy, and one of them landed a solid blow on her head. She kept her feet, but then another one got her in the stomach, and she collapsed.

 

Dimly, she thought she really should have used her sabers.

 

* * *

 

There was laughter.

 

Ahsoka’s brain couldn’t handle that detail, considering she had been knocked unconscious by some clones, and… she felt the bracers on her wrists, was currently their prisoner.

 

“Oh, she got you good, Mereel,” one said, not even trying to keep his amusement in check.

 

“Shut up, A’den,” Mereel growled. Mereel, the one who called her ‘sweetheart.’

 

“Kriffing Jedi,” another one said hotly. “Why did we bring her back anyway? We don’t need her.”

 

“Because if she reacted that way to us,” a fourth clone said, and this one sounded calm, measured, though she could feel that he simmered underneath. “Then she might know things we might want to know, Jaing.”

 

“She’s coming around, sir,” A’den said, and he administered some kind of stim. She came awake fully, instantly, and suddenly with a headache. She winced.

 

“Jedi,” the fourth clone said flatly. “You will tell us what you were doing in that room.”

 

“I’m not a Jedi,” she said, and rolled her shoulders, testing how tight the bracers were. Tight, was the answer, and would have held her pretty well if she hadn’t learned quite a few new tricks. She started to work on bracers while she kept the clones talking.

 

“Like hell you’re not!” Jaing declared. “What do you call jumping around like that, or fighting that fast? Only Jedi can do that.”

 

“Didn’t say I couldn’t use the Force, but I’m not a Jedi,” she insisted, buying time. She was not going to let these troopers keep her from finding Kai So and the answers she needed to save Tup and Fives.

 

Jaing growled and rounded on her, but the one called Mereel stopped him, saying something softly in Mando’a. She couldn’t understand it fully, but she did catch the general meaning: _get yourself under control, brother._

 

While the others were distracted, she slipped the bracers off, and launching herself out of the chair, she threw the bracers at their leader’s head. They wouldn’t have damaged him much, but it was instinct to flinch at something coming at your head, and he flinched like any well-wired sentient.

 

Quicker than they could shoot, Ahsoka called on the Force and pushed down on them from above, driving them to their knees. They were held by her will as exerted through the Force, and she could feel them seething. This wouldn’t win her any friends, but she didn’t feel like being interrogated or dealing with four-on-one odds.

 

“ _Haar’jetti_!” Mereel exclaimed, and she knew what _that_ meant.

 

“Not a Jedi, but you weren’t going to listen to me, so how about we try a little role reversal, hm?” she asked. “I’ll talk, but you’re going to actually hear what I have to say instead of making assumptions.”

 

They stared at her in furious silence.

 

“Who are you?” she pushed ahead. “You aren’t standard clones.”

 

At that they only glared at her with even greater intensity.

 

“Fine, I’ll go first. I said I wasn’t a Jedi, and I’m not. I was Temple trained, but when I was accused of a crime I didn’t commit, they threw me to the Senate. After I was cleared, I left,” she said. That made their leader’s eyes go wide.

 

“ _You_ are former Commander Tano?” he asked, incredulous. At that, the rest of them cast her disbelieving looks.

 

“Yes, I am,” she confirmed. “Ahsoka Tano, pleased to meet you. Former Commander of the 501st and Jedi Padawan.” She took a breath. “Look, Mereel, right? I’m sorry I kicked you in the face, and I’m sorry I fought all of you, but I wasn’t sure why you were there. I have a bad recent history with troopers trying to detain me. If I let you all up, can we talk like people?”

 

“Ah, well, you’re pretty enough, I don’t even mind,” Mereel drawled, which earned him eye rolls from his brothers.

 

Their leader looked up at her, seeming to measure her up in his mind. He was the one she needed to convince, for all that they were brothers, she knew how to spot the clones that could lead. He was like Rex that way, that steady presence with a sharp gaze that really _saw_ what he looked at.

 

“I think we can manage that,” he allowed. She nodded, and let them go. They stood, and looked down at her. They were really quite tall. Their leader held out his hand. “Captain Ordo, designation Null-11.”

 

Her eyes widened. _Null-ARCs_ , she thought, _that’s what I was trying to remember. Clones and enhanced beyond human limits, hair-trigger tempers, loyal only to their father and each other, barely tolerate Republic orders, very Mandolorian… not fond of Jedi_.

 

“Oh _stang,_ ” she said, and Ordo smiled grimly as he watched her realize exactly who she was dealing with. Then she shook his proffered hand, putting her thoughts in check. “Well, good to meet you, Captain.”

 

“Shall we?” he asked, and at her nod, he led them down the corridor to the command center of their ship. She needed to check on the _Grey Hawk_ before too much longer, but for now, there was time to establish why, exactly, they had all ended up in Kai So’s old rented room.

 

They sat, and Ordo seemed perfectly at ease, while Jaing looked like he wanted to throttle her for just existing. A’den seemed to find this all rather amusing, and Mereel kept giving her that charming smile that set her teeth on edge.

 

“I want to know something before we begin,” Ordo said quietly. “Why are you doing this? Why are you investigating Kai So?”

 

 _Well,_ she thought, _at least he gets right to the point_.

 

“Because he’s the only lead I have so I can help my friends. My,” she hesitated and racked her brain for how to get through to them. What had Rex and Coric said? Raised like Mandolorians, right. “My _clan_ is in trouble. All the clones are, but I felt the danger around the ones I call brother.”

 

“And,” the leader pressed. “What do they call you?” She knew this mattered, mattered more than she could likely ever understand, but she thought she understood what he was asking.

 

“They mostly called me ‘Commander,’ but sometimes, sometimes they called me ‘sister,’” she said, and felt a lurch in her heart. She missed them, the troopers, her family, so much. But if she couldn’t be with them and fight beside them, she could still protect them.

 

“No! Like hell,” Jaing said. “Sir, you can’t be considering this! No _vod_ would ever call a _jetti_ ‘sister’,” he grated out the last word like it was a personal insult.

 

“I certainly wouldn’t want to call her ‘sister’, but for different reasons,” Mereel remarked to himself. Ordo shot both of them a glare for good measure. Then he turned back to her, face giving away nothing. He could give Rex a run for his money in the blank expression department.

 

“It seems like we’re working toward the same purpose,” Ordo said.

 

“We can work together?” she asked, feeling no small amount of trepidation. These were Null-ARCs, not known for their mental or emotional stability.

 

“For as long as it proves reasonable,” he said.

 

“Alright,” she agreed. “There’s just one thing.” Ordo raised an eyebrow at her, indicating for her to continue. “I really should find a better place for my ship than Taris.”

 

A’den laughed at that.

 

* * *

 

“No,” she said flatly. They were in the command center, going over a plan that Ordo had come up with. One that “ _took advantage of having an unexpected asset._ ” They had grudgingly accepted her on board, having docked the _Grey Hawk_ with the _Aay'han_ , the ship the Null-ARCs travelled on. They had gone over the data Mereel had eventually recovered about Kai So’s travels, and it turned out he was headed to a planet in Hutt space, Dandoran.

 

Certainly a Hutt planet would provide him with a respite from whoever was after him, but it was the plan to get to him that Ahsoka found objectionable.

 

“I am not posing as a slave. _Again_ ,” she insisted.

 

“You wouldn’t be posing as a slave,” Mereel drawled, “The women at the Mynock Grotto are all independent professionals who are sponsored by their managers.”

 

“Still no, and I don’t even want to know how you know that,” Ahsoka said pointedly.

 

“It would work,” A’den insisted. “Kai So has exotic tastes, apparently. The Mynock is a well-known dance hall, and he will be there, no matter how deep in hiding he wants to be.   The long-necked barve can’t help himself. If you could catch his eye, well, Kai So propositions and goes off with his favorites all the time. It wouldn’t attract any attention. We could get the information we need without putting the Republic, the Kaminoans, or even the Hutts on alert.”

 

Ahsoka glared at him.

 

“This is disgusting,” she growled.

 

“I will not argue that point, however,” Ordo said, “we won’t ask you do to anything against your will.”

 

“Better than the deal than her kind gave us,” Jaing grumbled, but subsided at another sharp look from Ordo. Although Ordo was being kind, in his own way, Jaing’s comment still stung. She had only been four when the clone army had been commissioned, but she had been part of the organization that used them to fight a war. The Republic would live or die on their backs, and they had no choice in the matter. Their conditioning was enough to make them _want_ to fight anyway.

 

“You’re right, it is,” she agreed, voice soft. “And I thank you for it.” Ordo nodded sharply in acknowledgement of the truth of what she said. She wanted to sigh and grumble and rub the bridge of her nose in annoyance, but it wouldn’t get her anywhere. And it would likely lose her what little measure of respect the Nulls were according to her now.

 

“Alright, I’ll do it, but this time I get to pick my own outfit,” she said.

 

“Can I help?” Mereel asked, expression far too innocent to be believable.

 

“No,” Ordo, A’den, and even Jaing said at the same time. Ahsoka couldn’t help but laugh at that.

 

* * *

 

“You know, something just occurred to me,” Mereel said as they were backstage at the Mynock Grotto. Ahsoka was about to make her debut as a new dancer on Dandoran, sponsored by the largely fictive Skirata Group, represented by Ordo and Mereel. A’den and Jaing were disguised with holo-emitters and were circulating in the crowd to keep an eye on Kai So. Who had a front row seat this evening.

 

At Ahsoka’s raised eyebrow, he smiled, though he refrained from eyeing her up and down again. She had pointedly discouraged him from that last time. With her sabers. Not even Jaing had intervened. Granted, that hadn’t seemed to deter him in general. Rather, it seemed to make him like her _more_. It had to be a Mandolorian thing.

 

“We never asked you if you could dance,” he said. It was her turn to smile.

 

“No, you didn’t,” she returned. She could have assured him that she could, in fact, dance. She was Togruta, and a Jedi to boot. Knowing how to move had never been a problem. What worried her was being able to catch the eye of a Kaminoan. Well, she would just have to do her best.

 

The announcer called out the name Ordo had given for her, something horribly stupid so she refused to pay attention to it. Mereel gave her a nod, and she took her mark. A platform raised her up on a dark stage, so her appearance would be instantaneous and probably magical and mysterious to the assembled viewers.

 

She had designed the routine herself, using traditional Togruta music, trading on her vague memories of old celebrations around a bonfire at night, her talks to Shaak Tii about Togruta culture, and what she had learned on her own. To go along with that, she wore traditional clothing as well and went barefoot.

 

Kneeling, she let the white furred cloak drape around her, and tried to ignore a small thrill of anticipatory enjoyment. This was a mission, a mission to trap a sleemo scientist, but she couldn’t help but look forward to _moving_ , to feeling the flow of music, like it was the Force. She did wonder why more Jedi didn’t dance, but then, so many dances required partners, though not those of her people.

 

As the music started, she slowly stood, letting her bare feet peek out from the long cloak, gracefully sauntering forward, eye cast down as though she were a humble Togruta child come before elders. One step, another, in time to the beat. Then she raised her head, chin at a proud angle, eyes defiant, and she flung off her cloak revealing primitive Togruta dress: a simple breast binding and loincloth made out of leather and hide, jewelry of tooth and bone and leather.

 

And she danced. She danced with all the ferocity of a young Togruta woman declaring herself an adult before the community, that she had hunted an akul and defeated it, that she would select a mate of _her_ choosing. In theory, this dance would be done with the other young women of the clan, a dozen or so of them twirling together in complicated patterns, trilling in counterpoint to the drums played by the young men.

 

But right now, she danced it alone, and she doubted anyone in the audience would know the meaning of it.

 

To be fair, it was the only remotely provocative dance she could think of that didn’t make her want to hop into boiling water to feel clean afterwards. Because at least it meant something to her.

 

* * *

 

“Well, if that didn’t make Kai So fall in love you, it worked on damn near every other male out there,” Mereel said, and he wisely kept other comments to himself. Ahsoka kept her cloak drawn about her as they conferred backstage. Ordo was out there, hopefully already talking to Kai So about arranging a meeting. The women here weren’t slaves, not really, and they could always refuse to meet with an ‘admirer,’ though most didn’t. If only because they got a cut of the funds, too.

 

Then Mereel’s comm chirped. “Sir?” he answered it.

 

“One Kai So would very much like to meet our dear girl,” Ordo drawled, the no-nonsense captain apparently able to play dancing girl sponsor with an ease that was surprising.

 

“Excellent, I’ll just ask her if she would like to meet him,” Mereel said, and waited a few moments before continuing. “She says she would be delighted, and wants to know if he has any requests.” Ahsoka tried to not feel disgusted and objectified, but failed spectacularly. Certainly, nothing was going to happen, but the implications made her skin crawl.

 

“He would like her keep her costume,” Ordo said, and Ahsoka could swear there was a hint of disgust in his own voice. The thought cheered her slightly. When the conversation was over, Mereel gave her a little, ironic bow.

 

“Well, _jetti’ika_ , it seems as if you’ve captured his heart. Shall we go and horribly disappoint him?” he asked brightly. She couldn’t help but smile in return.

 

“Yes, let’s,” she said, letting her sharp canines show.

 

* * *

 

Kai So’s terror really shouldn’t have made her feel better about the whole thing, but it did. Being happy about another being’s suffering wasn’t all that good, wasn’t very Jedi, and while she wasn’t a Jedi anymore she did want to be a good person regardless.

 

 _Though, being a Jedi and being a good person aren’t always one and the same thing,_ she thought absently. Then she refocused her mind on the task at hand. Getting information out of Kai So. He was proving remarkably stubborn.

 

“You cannot torture me, trooper. You would not have gone to these lengths,” he said, eyeing her, and Ahsoka felt a shiver of his lust, and it felt like a layer of slime on her skin. “To remain undetected by my watchers, only to spoil it by leaving such an obvious indication of your… visit.”

 

“What about in the places that don’t show?” Mereel asked, eyes a little too bright, and there it was, the Null’s instability. Ordo shook his head, and Mereel backed down, but he was tensed, coiled, waiting to spring into action at his captain’s word.

 

A’den and Jaing were in the room adjacent to this one, running security on the luxurious apartments so they would remain undisturbed for this little interview. Ordo and Mereel were conducting the interrogation, and they weren’t getting anywhere.

 

“You don’t need to talk to give us what we need,” she said softly. Ordo and Mereel looked at her sharply. They had tolerated her, and Mereel clearly more than tolerated her, but they were deeply uncomfortable with any Force-use. She had refrained while they travelled together, but she thought she might be able to do it. To glean from Kai So’s mind what they needed to know: the layout of Tipoca City.

 

She wasn’t sure if it was an ability of the light or the dark. The Jedi Council would likely say that it was dark, that it came too close to invading the mind of another, but she supposed it might all depend on how you did it.

 

“You have a tame Jedi?” Kai So said, a note of panic creeping into his voice. She knew she shouldn’t have done it, shouldn’t have played off of his fear, but she spoke before she could think about it.

 

“I’m not a Jedi,” she said flatly. Kai So’s already large eyes widened, and she could feel the panic in him well and truly now.

 

“I will talk, whatever you want to know, but do not let her use the Force on me!” he said in a rush.

 

They got all the information they wanted and although he didn’t know much about the chips, he could tell them that every clone had an inhibitor chip, something to make them less aggressive, even the Null-ARCs. He had never seen anything wrong with that notion, but at his mention, she knew, she _felt_ it was the chips that she should be after. Ahsoka’s guilt about trading on Kai So’s fear evaporated. Instead, she started to feel sick.

 

* * *

 

The _Aay'han_ descended into the Kaminoan atmosphere, coming in low and fast over the water, and just before Tipoca City, a small shuttlecraft detached and knifed into the ever-turbulent ocean. Mereel piloted the craft, taking them to the small access hatch that Kai So had told them about. It was a maintenance shaft, rarely used or accessed, according to the scientist.

 

It was Ahsoka’s way in.

 

“Alright,” he said as they docked with the hatch, “Ordo, A’den, and Jaing will buy us as much time as they can. Hopefully it’ll take the Kaminoans some time to figure out what they were dosed with, but no guarantees. Upload as soon as you have the data.”

 

“I know,” she said. “I’ve got the secure comm. I hope they don’t get too sick, though.” Mereel shrugged.

 

“Poisoning was the only plausible reason for them to come back here. Most poisons work oddly on us, and we need specialized treatment. Otherwise, we never come back here. Now,” he insisted. “Go. Luck, _jetti’ika_.”

 

With that, she was up through the hatch and into the ductwork. She had to concentrate on more than keeping her head in this maze, because Master Tii was also in residence. The Nulls hadn’t wanted to wait for her to be called away, and Ahsoka had to assure them that she could mask her presence. It did take some of her concentration, but she was fairly certain Shaak Tii wouldn’t sense her.

 

Regardless, she was still the logical choice. The passcodes in all of Tipoca city were changed frequently, and Kai So’s passcodes were either out of date or had been blocked second he had been banished. She could still fit through the small ducts and access tunnels and _listen_ for the passcodes from the minds of the troopers who had clearance for the secure facilities.

 

Crawling, she moved as quickly as she could. There were lots of places that would have pieces of the information, but Kai So had assured them that if they wanted information about what the chips actually did, they would need to access the programming room. Where all the programs were kept: programs that were installed in many different kinds of clones that the Kaminoans had made over the years.

 

The only problem was that the programming room had its own closed system. So there she was, sitting next to a vent, unable to get any further, a locked door between her and answers.

 

Luckily, the room still had to be inspected. Once a day, one of the Kaminoans would access the room and make sure everything was as it should be. And for all that things had changed, Kai So insisted that procedure never did. Only seconds after she had gotten into position, one of the long necked, graceful scientists arrived and keyed in a code. Unable to see from her view, she could still _listen_ , at least with her mind.

 

 _There!_ she thought, _got it!_

 

A few minutes and the Kaminoan left, and she checked to make sure the coast was clear. She emerged from the ductwork, keyed in the code, and shot through the open door. Wasting no time, she hooked up the small slicing machine to the computer port. It was a brute force approach to slicing, just taking everything (not to mention highly illegal, but Ahsoka had begun to stop worrying about little niceties like that). But it worked. As fast as it could download, it transmitted to a secure data store on the _Aay'han_.

 

She was tense, waiting for it to finish, but her luck held, and the little machine gave a happy _briip!_ of success before anything could go wrong. Tucking the device back into the pouch at her hip, she extended her Force senses outside the door and found the hallway empty. Keying in the same code, the door opened again and she all but fled back to Mereel.

 

“We’re good!” she said, breathless, giving the Null-trooper a victorious smile. He gave her one back, and he got the shuttle in position to dock with the _Aay'han_ so they could get off this planet and see what they had.

 

* * *

 

Ahsoka stared at the screen in disbelief. The chips weren’t, as Kai So claimed, aggression inhibition chips. They were obedience chips, currently inactive, but ready at a moment’s notice to short circuit the higher functions of any clone trooper and make them ready to accept any order given to them.

 

The _why_ was not in the files. Neither was the who. There were still too many questions left lying open, but there was one thing she knew for certain: she would _not_ let this happen to _her_ troopers.

 

She could sense how the Nulls were taking this. “Not well” would be an understatement. Jaing and Mereel had raged, inside and out. A’den felt stunned. Ordo… Ordo seemed like an implacable storm, for all that he had kept his composure.

 

“We’ll need to get a medical droid and reprogram it,” Ordo said, and that brought the others to attention. “Mereel, Tano, you’ll be on that. I want these chips out of our heads. A’den, use your contacts and get us the best slicers you can. Jaing, you’ll back him up. Any questions?”

 

Ahsoka hesitated, reluctant to bring up her concern. It seemed so personal, selfish in the face of what they had learned, but Ordo saw her start to say something and stop.

 

“What is it, Tano?” he asked, looking tired for the first time since meeting him.

 

“There was a reason I knew that something was wrong,” she said, trying not to put them off too much with Jedi-like mysticism. “I had a… vision. I saw some of my brothers dying because of this thing. I think one of these chips malfunctions, and it doesn’t end well. If it comes to it…”

 

“We’ll help you save your clan, Tano,” Ordo said, and it had the ring of a promise to it. “They are our brothers, too.”

 

“ _Vor entye_ ,” she said solemnly.

 

“ _Naasad entye_ ,” Ordo said, equally solemn.

 

She let out a shuddering breath, and wiped away the tears that had threatened to fall. Just the thought of losing her friends, her brothers, her clan, _Rex_ , to this thing had scared her more than she had been willing to admit. It wasn’t very Jedi, but again, admitting how she felt seemed to be more honest than trying to transcend emotions. It was part of living, after all.

 

“Ah, don’t cry for us, _jetti’ika_ ,” Mereel said, seeming to come back to himself a little now that they had something like a plan.

 

“If I don’t, who will?” she asked, and she knew it was the truth. No one cried for clones, save other clones, but maybe it was time to try to change that, if only for the small handful she could try to save.

 

Maybe she wouldn’t save them. She had to accept that. She had to be able to understand that outcome, as much as it broke her heart. But she loved them, so she would try.

 

And she knew she would always try, because it was not in her to do otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando’a:  
> Vor entye = thank you (lit. I am in your debt)  
> Naasad entye = there is no debt  
> Haar’jetti = damn Jedi  
> Jetti’ika = little Jedi
> 
>  
> 
> Hope that went over okay for you folks! Also, not sorry about the dancing. The image came into my head and it had done. I know its a trope, but sometimes its a fun trope.
> 
> And I'm sorry about not posting as much. Postgrad life.


	2. Coda: Fives Needs a New Hobby

Fives was excited. He had gotten his hands on a bootleg of the most recent show at the Mynock Grotto, and there had been a lot of excitement about it on the holonet. Some new performer had made an appearance and stolen the show. Fives did make a point of not watching the slave dancers, and although the women at the Grotto were not uncompromised, they were free and most of them had gone looking for sponsors.

 

They were also some of the best.

 

Maybe he had a little bit of a problem, but every man needed a hobby, and this one was relatively harmless. Besides, they were bootlegs. No one was getting any credits from his viewing.

 

Settling down with a bowl of puffed cereal and blue milk, Fives cued up the video. The first few dancers weren’t bad, and he enjoyed the show. They were beautiful, and moved with stunning grace, but he was hoping his favorites would make an appearance by the end. One Twi’lek in particular, Neven’alan, was always a showstopper.

 

Then about midway through the show the newcomer came on stage. At first he could only tell that she was a Togruta. Then she held up her head, and he would know those facial markings anywhere.

 

 _“Kriffing hell_!” he shouted, nearly dropping his food in his surprise. That, of course, drew the attention of his brothers.

 

“Fives, what’s going on?” Echo asked, the first to stick his head in, though he was closely followed by Jesse and Kix. Then they saw Ahsoka, their former commander dancing. Sure, they had all seen her dance before on Ossus during some R&R, and around the ship when the mood struck her, but that been normal dancing, nothing terribly remarkable about it except that was clearly having fun.

 

This was… _dancing_.

 

“Why the hell are you watching this, Fives?” Jesse demanded.

 

“I didn’t know! She just showed up! Its from the Mynock Grotto, and… and… oh, stang, I’m just going to delete this,” he said, stopping the playback and deleting the file and seriously considering wiping the console’s entire memory just to be sure.

 

“Gonna need to do more than that,” Kix said. “What do you think would happen if Rex or the general found out about this?”

 

They all paused in mute, stunned horror at the very idea of Rex, or worse, _Skywalker_ , knowing about or, again worse, _seeing_ , Ahsoka Tano dancing like _that_ at the Mynock Grotto.

 

“I’ll just erase it from the holonet, shall I?” Fives asked, already going to work.

 

“I want to know why the hell she was there!” Echo said. “What if she’s in trouble?”

 

“I doubt it,” Kix said, a thankfully calm voice of reason. “But we can keep an eye out for her, see if she pops up again. If not, we could assume that it was a one time thing, and likely for reasons of her own.”

 

“But we can’t know for sure,” Jesse pressed.

 

“No, but there’s not much we can do, either,” Kix pointed out. “Come on, we should get some shut eye and leave Fives to his work.”

 

“Thanks, brothers,” Fives muttered, hunched over the console. They filed out, but Echo lingered “What is it, Echo?”

 

“You might want to get a new hobby, Fives,” Echo said, smirking.

 

“Shut up, Echo,” Fives grumbled. Echo left, laughing. By the next day cycle, all evidence of Ahoska’s dance at the Mynock Grotto was erased from the holonet, and Fives did keep an eye out for a repeat performance, just in case. But she didn’t make another appearance, so Kix might have been right.

 

He hoped that holovid would never surface again, because he sure as hell didn’t want to explain to the general that he had known about this and not said anything. Skywalker had a bit of a temper about his former Padawan.

 

Fives was less worried about Rex’s reaction. At least Rex would give him a head start.

 

And he did have to admit. He probably did need a new hobby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't resist. Of course the video got out. And maybe it'll show up later in the rest of the series? Bwahahahaa. Poor Fives.


End file.
